The validity of this baptism of Mr. Williams and his companions having been disputed, it may be proper to examine this point. The spirit of the Scriptures, if not their letter, assigns to the ministers of the Gospel the duty of administering the ordinances of the church. Expediency obviously requires an adherence to this general principle. But the language of the Bible is not so decisive on this point, as to make it certain, that a layman might not, in cases where a minister could not be obtained, administer the ordinances. It is known, that in the earliest ages of the church, while there was a general observance of the principle, that the administration of the ordinances belongs to ministers, laymen were occasionally permitted to baptize. Mosheim says: “At first, all who were engaged in propagating Christianity, administered this rite; nor can it be called in question, that whoever persuaded any person to embrace Christianity, could baptize his own disciple.”[201] Tertullian says, “Laymen have power to baptize, which yet, for the sake of order, they ought only to use in cases of necessity.”[202] Ambrose says: “That at the beginning, laymen were permitted to preach and baptize, in order to increase the number of Christians.”[203] Augustine affirms, “that it is a very small fault, or none at all, for laymen to baptize, in cases of urgent necessity.”[204] Jerome speaks of it as a thing certain, that “laymen may lawfully baptize, when there is urgent necessity for it.”[205] There were, it is true, at a very early period, erroneous views of the indispensable necessity of baptism to salvation, which led to various unauthorized practices. But the principle, that laymen might lawfully baptize, in certain exigencies, seems to have been early admitted, and it was formally sanctioned by a decree of the Council of Eliberis.[206]